LATEST NEWS

The Steve Jobs Leak: Another Stroke of Brilliance?

Monday - August 4, 2008It's been an interesting week. As if to prove the point of last week's column, Steve Jobs used his impressive skills to trick a New York Times reporter he didn't like into giving him a clean bill of health. This was brilliantly done, and there are some real lessons here that dovetail with last week's piece. The Wall Street Journal got wind of a secret project at Dell to possibly take the music lead away from Apple, but not necessarily the device lead, making it kind of interesting. Finally, Microsoft made public its secret Mojave experiment. [More...]

Freedom of Speech Advocates Torch China, IOC Over Web Censorship

Thursday - July 31, 2008If the Chinese government isn't careful, its forthcoming Beijing Olympics could rival the 1936 and 1968 Summer Games for infamy and a message that ultimately backfires on the host country. That warning comes from human rights groups and Internet free speech advocacy organizations following news this week that Beijing would restrict Internet use for international journalists covering the games. [More...]

Alien-Hunting UK Hacker Coming to America

Wednesday - July 30, 2008The British House of Lords has decided to extradite Gary McKinnon, a British citizen who hacked his way into several U.S. military, defense and NASA computers, to the United States to stand trial. McKinnon has been fighting extradition since the discovery in 2002 that he was the one who broke into the U.S. government's most sensitive networks between 2001 and 2002. [More...]

The iPhone 3G and the Risk of Great Marketing

Monday - July 28, 2008The iPhone 3G's battery life and problems with MobileMe have many favoring the older model, but lines are still forming for the 3G version. This showcases both the amazing capabilities of brilliant marketing and the risks associated with applying it to the wrong product. [More...]
Conjecture About Jobs' Health Weighs Down Apple Stock

Wednesday - July 23, 2008The towering role of Steve Jobs at Apple was underscored this week when concerns about his health contributed to a sudden plunge in the company's stock. Apple shares recovered significantly on Tuesday, but Wall Street's worries spotlight the enormous importance of Jobs to Apple and spur questions about the company's responsibility to address the recurring rumors regarding his health. [More...]

The Power of Balance

Monday - July 21, 2008I like writing about conflict because it gives you more than one dimension to a story, and there were two interesting conflicts that I ran into last week. The first, more near-term, will likely define the direction of the notebook market, and it is important because it implies an ether/or decision when most of us want both. [More...]

The Fall of Google, the Rebirth of Microsoft and the Changing Face of Apple and Linux

Monday - July 14, 2008Sometimes it's the little things that can cause you to rethink how you look at a company. For much of this decade Microsoft has been the "evil empire" with Apple, Linux and Google on the side of the Force. With Microsoft doing some positive things, Apple's decision to raise iPhone prices, Google's attack on single parents and Richard Stallman's attack on Bill Gates' philanthropy, these entities' images may be changing. [More...]
It's OK to Say No to the New iPhone

Monday - July 7, 2008There are many things to admire about Apple, but like every company it has a dark side. One of the things I personally find more than annoying is the Apple fan base that will attack you if you honestly don't want to buy an Apple product and talk about your choice. [More...]
Post-Gates: How Apple and OSS Are Making For a Better Microsoft

Monday - June 30, 2008A lot of us are focused on Microsoft and Bill Gates this month as Bill's last day at the company he founded and ran to dominance passed last Friday. I've met Bill several times but only really once spoken to him. From a personal aspect, he has mostly been cordial and he once personally came to my rescue back when my career as an independent analyst first started, something I'll never forget. [More...]

Cubicle Dweller Makes the Most of It

Tuesday - June 24, 2008Jared Nielsen, an Internet entrepreneur and Julington Creek, Fla., resident, knew he would liven things up in the office when he remodeled his cubicle. What Nielsen didn't anticipate was the Internet celebrity status that followed. He said his coworkers encouraged him to put it up on CNN's iReport.com. [More...]

Learning From Contrasts

Monday - June 23, 2008Last week I was in Japan doing a deep dive on Panasonic, a firm I've observed for decades but never really got to know until recently. I've studied Apple in depth since the '80s and I find the contrasts between the firms and their key founders Konosuke Matsushita -- for whom Panasonic was originally named -- and Steve Jobs fascinating. [More...]

Apple's Sizzling Release, Microsoft's Warm and Fuzzy Fest, HP's Big Bang: The Summer Heats Up

Monday - June 16, 2008I started off the week with dueling events: the Apple WWDC, where they talked about Snow Leopard and the second generation iPhone, HP's massive product announcement, and Microsoft's TechEd, where I learned more about Unlimited Vista. I was taken by the fact that Apple missed with the iPhone with the product coming late, incomplete and blatantly copying Microsoft Mesh. [More...]